all right. that's it for us. "don lemon tonight," with the best part of the show. the upgrade, laura coates, starts right now. >> you know, i feel like, chris, saying this is "don lemon tonight," i'm not don lemon.

just in case there was any confusion. but it seems like, you know. >> anybody who were to confuse the two of you would need to turn off the tv, immediately. ball up their fist, ram it into their face, and then take a nap. >> i feel like you -- you may have thought this out. that's -- that's a really good response, and a quick one. i don't know. >> yes, the punching myself in the face, i think about in a regular time. when not doing it. you know, i want to ask you something. >> yeah. >> because you are a bona fide prosecutor. mike was a good ag and lawyer and i anyway him and respect him. and i get what he is doing and his benefit of the doubt analysis. but if bill barr had a clean kill on this story, being like, boy, do you have this wrong. he would not be, i can't recalling his way sideways and we both know trump would not be quiet. as a former prosecutor, how does it smell? >> doesn't smell good and i think you said it right when you said it doesn't pass the smell test at all. and the notion here, look.

we can all agree we don't want people to be leaking classified information. we know that there are national-security risks. but the notion here, that you can conflate the idea of a legitimate pursuit, with one that's pretextual, that's really the crux of the issue here. and so, benefit of doubt, of course. is it -- is it odd that a prosecutor goes and gets a subpoena? is it odd that you go and get documents? absolutely not. what's odd is the overlapping coincidences out of thin air that suggest, you know what? huh, i think we are going to target, potentially, people who are investigating this white house. investigating the investigators. and not, at all, thinking that anyone would see some even allegation of pretext. it -- it's really shocking and you no know what else is shocki? the notion of crickets coming from the republican party. i mean, today, is might be congressman eric swalwell. today, it might be congressman adam schiff. but could easily just be devin nunes or jim jordan or anyone else.

and so, the notion that this would not get bipartisan support, i think, is jarring, at best. >> well, with the wuhan lab story right now, which takes us back to the beginning of a pandemic that they agreed was a hoax with their silence about -- when the president was calling it a hoax. then, i pri the biggest problem for them in justifying this and the good news, as i am sure you are going to talk about tonight. is it's great that you have a lot of the high-up staffers who were part of this still at the doj, so you will probably get their cooperation. but if it is about national security, that is a big stick to swing. but these are, largely, conversations that you say never happened. so they wouldn't be able to have any national security to escape. and to the extent that they did happen, they were largely declassified during the pendency of this probe. so, you kind of undercut your own premise about why you were doing it. >> therein lies the rub, but, you know, what all else fails, i guess you can just say i am being objective because this person's never been to my house before and i have never been to his.

>> yes. i've never been to your house. you have never been to mine but i know you are smarter than i am. >> i wasn't going to say anything. but a meal, coffee, a dessert. i don't know. >> you don't want to be seen with me, i am doing you a favor, coates. >> thanks, chris. glad to see you right now. happy, friday night. >> have a great, friday night. i look forward to the show. >> thank you and this is "don lemon tonight." and i am laura coates, in for don. and it is another, big-news night. lots of new developments, in the wake of the firestorm over revelations that the trump justice department seized records from apple targeting demo democrats in the house intel committee, staff, and even some family members. and now, we are learning the doj's inspector general will investigate. senators chuck schumer and dick durban are calling for former-attorneys general bill barr and jeff sessions to testify before the judiciary committee. but they are going to need the support of at least one republican, which, frankly, hardly, is a sure thing.

that, as democrats, on the intel committee, want apple to look into whether any-other members were targeted. and bill barr tells "politico," he wasn't aware of any congressmen's records being sought in a leak case. not while he was attorney general. and all of that, well, it brings me to this point. richard nixon had an enemies' list. donald trump, apparently, thought he had an enemy department. and the irony is not lost on any of us. trump. he cursed leakers. >> and frankly, i think it's disgraceful. and i think it was leaks from the intelligence committee, house, house version. and i think that they leaked it. i think, probably, schiff leaked it. but people within that -- schiff leaked it, in pmy opinion. and he shouldn't be leaking things like that. they ought to stop the leaking from intelligence committee. and if they don't stop it, i --

i can't imagine that people are not going to go after them, and find out what's happening. >> and then, his department of justice used leak investigations to target the free press. and his perceived-political enemies. trump cursed the department of justice's special counsel, robert mueller. and the house impeachment managers, for what he called a witch hunt. >> i call it the rigged witch hunt. i think that really hurts our country, and it really hurts our relationship with russia. >> we have been hit by fake, fake investigations. fake scandals. fake impeachments. we've had -- we've had so many things that the witch hunt. i call it the witch hunt. and it turned out to be a phony-witch hunt. and they should have known it the first day. they did know it the first day. but it's the deep state. >> but a leak hunt against democrats and the press? well, that's a whole-different story. and one we are going to learn a

lot more about. now, he vilified fisa warrants claiming the government spied on him. >> nobody's been abused by fisa like the president of the united states. >> but now, we know, his own government pursued the communications of some of his so-called political enemies. subpoenaing data from apple to obtain records from reporters and congressmen, even a minor child. he's whined about being censored, cancelled, silenced. meanwhile, the department of justice, under his appointees, repeatedly, demanding absolute-gag orders. preventing apple from telling anybody what the doj was up to. preventing cnn from telling barbara starr the government wanted her records. he projected everything he seemed to be doing, onto someone else. the media. the democrats. his opponents. his predecessor. and attorney general barr.

well, he played cutesy with semantics. >> attorney general barr, has the president or anyone at the white house ever asked or suggested that you open an investigation of anyone? >> um, i wouldn't -- i wouldn't -- >> yes or no? >> could you repeat that question? >> i will repeat it. has the president or anyone at the white house ever asked or suggested that you open an investigation of anyone? yes or no, please, sir. >> um, the president or anybody else. >> seems you would remember something like that, and be able to tell us. >> yeah, but i'm trying to grapple with the word suggest. i mean, there have been discussions of -- of matters out there. that they have not asked me to open an investigation. >> perhaps, they've suggested? >> i don't know. i wouldn't say suggest. >> hinted? >> i don't know. >> inferred? you don't know?

>> well, here are my humble suggestions for attorney general merrick garland. the news that the doj's inspector general will investigate the seizure of the data from lawmakers and staff, and some family members. that's a good start. but i suggest you reassure the public that the department of justice does not seek to undermine a coequal branch's ability to check an abuse of power. and i, humbly, suggest you ensure that no one is above the law. even within the department, whose job it is to enforce the law. because the stakes are too high to play cutesy or have words like the department of justice come down to semantics. >> i want to bring in cnn white house correspondent, john harwood. glad to see you, on a night like this, john. and so much to get to with you. in particular, john, you covered the trump white house. i mean, we knew, based on trump's twitter feed and his

rallies, exactly, who he thought his enemies were. so -- and now, it appears that the doj was weaponized to go after those enemies. i am talking about democratic lawmakers, and their aides, their -- their families, and media organizations. i mean, he was very public about his enemies list. and now, here we are. and yet, it's just so unprecedented, even with all of those tells, is it not? >> laura, the remarkable thing about president trump and his administration was how openly he corrupted the processes of government. remember, when he was a capped date. russia, are you listening? go get those e-mails. president as president, suggesting china open investigations of hunter biden. attacking jeff sessions, his attorney general, for recusing himself in the russia probe. firing james comey, fbi director, and saying it was because he thought russia was a hoax which, of course, it was not. attacking his own vice president for upholding the constitutional

processes of counting the electoral votes after the 2020 election. donald trump didn't hide it. you know, richard nixon didn't publish his enemies list but donald trump put it right out there. suggested that the legal process should be deployed against his enemies. so it's no surprise, as we learn, and we're certainly going to learn more, as the months go on. that his justice department not only targeted reporters, who cast critical scrutiny on him. but also, on members of the opposing party. who were bringing to light, his cooperation with russia. his welcoming help with russia as robert mueller later showed in his report. >> you know, it's such a shame, because here we are trying to, in many respects, have the public reassured about the integrity of the justice department. and just a few months into the tenure of a new-attorney general, the shadow looms large of the last one in a really profound way. i mean, attorney general barr. he is telling "politico," john, that he wasn't even aware of any

congressmen's records being sought in a leak case. i mean, what do you think of that? i mean, is that really plausible? that something, as serious as trying to pursue the private records of sitting congressmen on the intelligence committee wouldn't have crossed bill barr's desk? >> i think that's precisely why members of congress want to subpoena bill barr to get him to answer that question, under oath, rather than a phone call with "politico." they -- justice department inspector general's, also, going to look into this. let's remember, bill barr does not have high credibility. he misled the country about the context -- the contents of the mueller report when it came out. and he was, recently, admonished by a federal judge for misleading the court about the processes that led to his handling of the mueller report. so, bill barr does not have a strong record of credibility. and he's going to face some more scrutiny over exactly what the decision-making here was.

it's not surprising, that jeff sessions might not have known. he recused himself from the russia probe, when this apparently was undertaken in 2017. it is not plausible, though, that some other political appointee, perhaps rod rosenstein, did not know this. career people would not take these steps without consulting higher-ups. >> i mean, i was a career prosecutor. i can't imagine this was taken without that. and what -- what a statement for us to even be questioning the credibility of an attorney general. i mean, that's just so telling right now. but, you know, john, i want to turn to president biden's overseas trip. he is undoubtedly having to face a lot of the same discussion points that we're talking about here, while he is abroad. and he's meeting with vladimir putin, next week. here's what putin told nbc about president biden. >> you once described president trump as a bright person, talented. how would you describe president biden? >> translator: even now, i believe that former-u.s. president, mr. trump, is an extraordinary individual. talented individual.

otherwise, he would not have become u.s. president. he is a colorful individual. you may like him or not. and -- but he didn't come from u.s. establishment. and some like it, some don't like it. but that is a fact. president biden, of course, is radically different from trump because president biden is a career man. he has spent virtually his entire adulthood in politics. just think of the number of years he spent in the senate. a different kind of person. it is my great hope that, yes, there are some advantages, some disadvantages. but there will not be any impulse-based movements on behalf of the sitting-u.s. president. >> i mean, john, no doubt, biden's meeting with putin will be entirely different than trump's face to face with the russian president. is that what you think, too? >> absolutely. vladimir putin helped donald trump get elected president, for a reason. russia interfered in the 2016 campaign. and after donald trump became president, he advanced vladimir

putin's objectives. he covered for him, he shielded him from criticism. he questioned the u.s. commitment to nato. did a series of things that advanced russian objectives. joe biden is a very different kind of president. and so, no wonder that he's in that interview talking about how smart donald trump was. and raising questions about joe biden. it's going to be fascinating to see, exactly, how joe biden handles that meeting. it's going to be -- he is certainly going to set a different tone in the relationship. what is uncertain is how effectively, joe biden, with that different approach than donald trump, can constrain the behavior that vladimir putin has flagrantly engaged in. not only interfering in our elections, but hosting, you know, criminal networks within russia that have been conducting ransomware attacks. the solarwinds hack, which is ascribed to russia. there is all sorts of maligned behavior from vladimir putin, that joe biden's going to try to rally allies. and himself, directly, with

putin, try to stop. and the question's going to be how effective is that? >> let's hope we all learn more about this meeting than we did from helsinki. john harwood, thank you for your time. i appreciate it. nice talking to you. now, i want to turn to former congressman denny heck. he is now the lieutenant governor of washington state. welcome to the show, lieutenant governor, how are you? >> i am good and thanks for having me on, laura u. >> i'm glad you're here. i mean, you were on a call, today. with past, and also present members of the house-intelligence committee. what'd you learn? >> well, they just kind of brought us all up to speed on what had happened, thus far, to get us in this circumstance. chairman schiff wanted to make sure that we had as much background information as he did. i was the only former member on, that i can tell. there aren't have many people that leave the intelligence committee because it's such an interesting committee and such important national-security work. and members tend to get on and

stay on as long as they can. >> which, of course, begs the question as to just why it would have been appropriate to try to intercept those private communications with people who were on this highly-sensitive committee. lieutenant governor, do you have reason to believe that you were targeted? i mean, you're a former member now. but do you have any reason to believe that you, yourself, were targeted or your communications? >> so, i was on the committee during the period of time for which the subpoenas were issued, 2017. and, of course, none of us knew, for sure, at the time of the discussion and the private-conference call. but we all submitted our telephone numbers and our relevant e-mail addresses, which were then submitted to apple to review to see whether or not they had been subpoenaed. breaking news here, laura, it turns out, i was not one of those that was subpoenaed. during the course of the afternoon, when i was pondering this. given the news report that they were up to 73 phone numbers that were asked for. i began, frankly, to wonder how i could not be one of those.

i didn't understand how they could get 73 numbers, if it was just two members of the committee and the staff. but it does beg the question, as to just how extensive these subpoenas were. and how many people were involved? how many family members? how many other minors? how many other -- other friends of the members of the committee have had their records subpoenaed by the department of justice? look. i -- i want to be very clear, upfront. if the inspector general goes into the direction that i think many of us assume he will. i think william barr ought to be disbarred. because i don't think anybody who ought to be able to legitimately call themselves a lawyer, who doesn't have any more regard for the rule of law than this kind of behavior demonstrates. >> lieutenant governor, that's quite a statement. the notion of the attorney -- former-attorney general in that position. you know, it's also interesting point you made. if the goal was to figure out who was the source of any leaks or to get those sources, wouldn't it have just made

sense, investigation wise, to have cast such a wide dragnet that you would, unavoidably, be one of the people whose records would have been accessed, as well? i mean, it seems far more selective and targeted, which doesn't speak well about a wide scope or dragnet to get to the crux of the issue. does it seem that way to you? >> well, laura, you're the former-career prosecutor. and you would know, better than me. but clearly, in hindsight, there was no predicate for this. you know, usually, you think subpoenas have to be predicated on some notion of what we would, i guess, as a layperson, characterize as probable cause. clearly, there was none. clearly, it was a dry well that kept coming up. and not -- that fact notwithstanding, attorney general barr pushed to go ahead on this. i mean, who -- laura, who does this? russia does this. north korea does this. authoritarian regimes do this. but this doesn't happen in a healthy democracy. and it ought to serve as a very loud-warning sign to all americans. >> it's, also, a very stunning

revelations in parts that this is happening while the president of the united states on his first overseas trip. oftentimes, obviously, having to be the chief diplomat of democracy across the globe. lieutenant governor, thank you for your time. appreciate it. >> you are more than welcome. >> you know, the comparisons to a previous president. well, they're inescapable. some are calling this watergate 2.0. but this may be even worse, than what nixon did. well, next, i will talk to two men who should know.

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trump's doj seizing private records of his political opponents. it's drawing comparisons to another president, who went after his rivals. richard nixon. now, he had an enemies list, which former nixon white house counsel, john dean, described in a 1971 memo, as a tool to, quote, screw our political enemies. and nixon, eventually, resigned, in disgrace over the watergate scandal. joining me, now, cnn contributor, john dean. and cnn presidential historian and former director of the nixon presidential library, tim naftali. wow, what a dynamite duo to talk about this very issue and these comparisons. glad to see both of you. john, let me begin with you. i mean, this, as you know, is drawing comparison to richard nixon and some are referring to it even as watergate 2.0. but in this case, the trump doj went after reporters, and

multiple-sitting members of congress. you, obviously, have firsthand knowledge of what happened under nixon. is this worse, than that? >> it's a little bit different. there are some parallels with reporters. nixon did wiretap reporters, at a time it was legal to do it. he had the director of the fbi do it. when the taps became illegal, they did pull them. but he did -- reporters and -- and white house staff. now, on congress, there is nothing comparable to what we are seeing here. i can recall no action by nixon where he ever tried to use the grand jury subpoena process to go after members of congress, and learn about what they might or might not know. in fact, he really got rebuffed every time he tried to bring a legal action in the area of leaks. that statute was not used, other than with daniel elsburg, unsuccessfully, who was the massive leaker of the nixon presidency. and there, it's not a pretty

story, at all, what he did with ellsburg. >> now, tim, you say nixon created a ramshackle system that allowed him to go after political opponents. while under trump, as -- as john is talking about, the entire-justice system, it seems, was hijacked. i mean, abuses like these are institut institut institutionalized how dangerous do they become? >> well, this is a part of the story. and i agree with -- with john's assessment that there are some parallels and some big differences. one of the big differences is that the permanent government, not the deep state. the permanent government was more compliant to trump than it was for nixon. nixon was not able to get the -- the irs, for example, to act on the enemies' list. nixon was not able to get the department of justice to do everything he wanted to do. he was so frustrated, in fact, that he couldn't get the kind of cooperation he expected for abuses of power against his enemies, that he created the plumbers. he created an illegal-espionage

team within the white house. fast forward to trump. trump was able to suborn the justice department. we are going to find out about the threshold, if there really was one, or the predicate. that -- that -- that the justice department's prosecutors used to seek a subpoena against sitting members of congress. let's just step back, for a minute. these -- this spying was renewed, which means that during both impeachments, the executive branch was spying on congress. just think about the implications of that. this a deep attack on our separation of powers doctrine. and is extremely, extremely troubling, given that the trump administration kept fighting for executive privilege. while now, apparently, or clearly, spying on congress. >> i mean, let that sink in.

about the idea of while you had not one but two impeachments, at the idea this was an available tactic. i mean, john, are you surprised? and we don't know -- again, we onto k don't know all the ins and outs of this investigation. the factual predication that led to it. we have a lot to learn, still, that's true. but you mentioned the idea of nixon being rebuffed at different turns. and tim talking about the idea of the irs preventing certain behavior. would you be surprised if no one in the doj-power structure stood up and said this is wrong? i mean, these are sitting members of the intelligence committee. a coequal branch of government. what do you think, john? >> it looks like they're rolled over, and did what he wanted. and he might not have even given them a direct order. it might have been a tweet that sent them off. so actually, i'm not surprised. tim has nailed it. he -- trump had a very compliant bureaucracy. nixon did not. that was part of his problem. so we actually are in very different times, and is quite

surprising that once was considered a check in the bureaucracy. really is no longer. but, laura, i don't think we have begun to find out what has gone on. and i think that that's going to be something that is unveiled, over the next few years. and it's likely to get worse, than what we're seeing right now. >> well, that's scary. the tip of the ice berg. i mean, john, there is some history in terms of a former-attorney general, you know, being liable and -- and guilty for something. the former attorney general, john mitchell, who served 19 months over -- over watergate. he was convicted of conspiracy, and obstruction of justice and perjury and, you know, lawmakers are now demanding answers from bill barr. over these leak investigations. are you seeing parallels, between what happened with nixon and mitchell and, now, trump and barr? >> is that question to me, laura? >> yes, john. >> okay. i -- i do see some parallels. i don't know how barr is going to handle it.

he has, actually, i think, done more damage to the department of justice, by a factor of maybe 100, than john mitchell did. john mitchell really kind of played by the rules. he -- he didn't really run the department, very aggressively. he had a -- an assistant who was a longtime department of justice employee. who kind of guided the attorney general who knew nothing about washington or the department of justice. i, actually, worked at the department before i went to the white house. so i -- i was very familiar with the operations there. and today, it's a very different department. barr was a micro manager. he didn't -- typically, the deputy-attorney general often runs the department. barr ran the department for all practical purposes. he was a former deputy, was a former attorney general. he knew which strings to pull to make different reactions throughout the -- the entire department. >> now, of course, i wish we had more time to talk to both of you

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♪ me and you singing in the park ♪ ♪ me and you, we're waiting for the dark ♪ so, the justice department's inspector general will, now, investigate the trump doj seizure of data of democratic lawmakers. while republicans are mostly silent about the targeting of their democratic counterparts, of course. joining me now to discuss is cnn political analyst, ron brownstein. and mark mckinnon, former adviser to george w. bush and john mccain. and the executive producer of show time's "the circus." i am glad to see you both here, this friday night. mark, you tipped your hat first. let me go to you for a second, please. because, you know, the gop. they couldn't quit trump after the insurrection. after the big lie. and they are standing by him,

again, as we're learning about what is likely, only the tip of the iceberg of abuses during his administration. i mean, are they aware that they are, potentially, standing on qu quicksand here? >> well, i think they have been, and they are, and it's just getting worse. they're -- they're not only doubling down, they are clawing their way to the bottom. they decided to go all in with trump. go all in on the myth about the election. go all in about election fraud. and now, they have nowhere to go on this -- on this doj investigation. and as you ever've heard, you h heard nothing out there from republicans, only crickets because they know it's bad. and it's not going to be good. but republicans have attached themselves. i don't think it is this is the tip of the iceberg, i think it's the bottom of the iceberg that is going to sink the titanic of the republican party. >> no longer crickets, at this point in time. especially, ron, you know, biden, he ran on bipartisanship.

but republicans are -- are blocking nearly all of his agenda and also some democrats are looking at what's happening. and wondering if they are getting played. if this is just bipartisanship theater? i mean, what are you hearing? particularly, because an issue like this, frankly, i mean, you should have bipartisan support because there were, also, republican members of congress that trump was at odds with that could very well have come under this dragnet. what are you hearing? >> look. i think mark nailed it exactly right. i mean, the republican party has decided they are all in on -- on donald trump. i mean, you look at the polling. three-quarters of republican voters say they still want him to be the leader of the party. and i think the really frightening thing is that a large share of the republican base and coalition would find nothing wrong in what he did. they have kind of adopted an any-means-necessary mindset toward holding off what they see as a democratic coalition. that would, fundamentally, in their view, transform america. it's the same impulse that's behind this wave of voting laws that are passing in the states, making it harder to vote on

almost entirely party-line basis. and -- and as you point out, it leaves biden, i think, in a -- in a difficult position. i mean, he did run on bipartisanship. there is a lot of polling that suggests the american public wants bipartship. but there is growing frustration among democrats that there is no realistic chance of getting ten-senate republicans for almost anything that democrats want to do. and so, i think, the rubber is really going to hit the road this summer. and -- and the inability to come to consensus on something like this or the january-6th commission, really, underscores how hard it's going to be on anything that is substantive policy. >> ron, you have a piece in the atlantic and it's titled, "democracy is already dying in the states." >> yeah. >> i mean, we are looking at the -- at the 389 bills going through 38 states right now. i mean, that makes it harder to vote. and democrats in those states are already -- they are under no illusions about what republicans are really interested in here and it's, obviously, not

bipartisanship. keep in mind, today, ag garland made the announcement about buttressing the section to try to address many of these concerns. >> as you know, garland is very limited in what he can do. because the john roberts court, in 2013, tore out the heart of the voting rights act. the preclearance provision. all he can use is what's known as section 2. and the supreme court may be about to weaken that, too. the best response democrats have, really the only lever they have to push back against what's going on in the states is federal legislation. setting a federal-minimum standard of voting rights. but joe manchin is saying that he will not move forward on voting rights, unless it's done in a bipartisan nature. and what i was able to point out today with the help of the brennen center, was with the standard he is upholding. this should only be done if both parties agree is emphatically what is not happening in the states. all of the major voting-rights laws, restrictive voting rights laws that have been passed in the states, except for one, have been passed almost entirely on a party-line basis. with opposition from almost

every democrat. and support from every republican. and so, all of these state-level democrats that i talk to in states like arizona and florida and iowa and texas. where they are being steamrolled by this party-line republican offensive against voting rights. are absolutely incredulous that manchin is saying, in effect, that he will only act against voting restrictions, if republicans in washington agree to constrain what republicans in the states are doing. that's not the standard that's unfolding in the states, themselves, laura. >> so much to talk about. wish i had more time with both of you. wanted to hear your reaction, too, marc. thank you for being here. we will catch you next time. thank you for taking the time. >> thank you. you know, another, alleged rioter arrested. now, facing five-federal charges. but this one, well, he's a chicago police officer. not only allegedly infiltrated the capitol but he wore a chicago pd sweatshirt, while doing so. more on that, next. the world around you may seem like an immovable,

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tonight, a chicago police officer is charged in connection to the january 6th capitol insurrection. accused of unlawfully entering restricted areas, violent and disorderly conduct, and entering the office of a senator. the officer, allegedly, sent photos of himself at the riot. wearing a hoodie, with the chicago police department logo on it. chicago's mayor calling him a, quote, total disgrace to the badge. more from cnn's own omar jimenez. >> reporter: within the ranks of the hundreds that have now been charged in the aftermath of the insurrection at the u.s. capitol. a chicago police officer, now, among them. facing federal charges. >> we have a zero tolerance for

hate and extremism, of any kind, within the chicago police department. and if you harbor such ignorance, in your heart, you should take off your star, now. and find another line of work. or i will do it for you. >> reporter: federal authorities, obtained text messages chicago police officer carole chestwick allegedly sent starting january 3rd. according to a criminal complaint, allegedly told one contact, i am going to d.c. the reply? when? and for what? cheswick says to save the nation. leaving tomorrow or the 5th. federal authorities say, he left on the 4th and arrived in d.c., just a day later. then, january 6th. he allegedly takes this selfie. a sweatshirt with the chicago-police logo on it. then, once allegedly inside the capitol, seen carrying a trump flag. as described by authorities. he even went to oregon senator

jeff murky's office posing for pictures according to federal authorities. and when he allegedly sent the photo in a text to a friend, he later said n-word don't snitch. all the cameras and videos from the scene were doing the snitching for him. >> this is not about somebody's political views. this is about somebody, who is fomenting hate and violence against our democracy. and like-minded, fellow travelers, against people that all of us represent and who we stand for. >> reporter: he was arrested friday morning and charged with five federal misdemeanors alleging unlawful entry in a restricted building and violent and disorderly conduct on capitol grounds. chicago police superintendent, david brown, says cheswick was relieved of his policing duties on june 2nd when the department learned of his alleged involvement. he had been an officer for two and a half years. >> the fact a chicago police officer has been charged in that

attack on american democracy makes my blood boil. participating in the siege on the capitol, in any way, was a betrayal of everything we stand for. >> reporter: and federal authorities say the phone associated with cheswick sent roughly-36 messages, contained pictures, in under an hour, while he was allegedly inside the capitol. there was no hiding anything. he made his initial-court appearance, friday morning, but was released on bond. and we have attempted to reach his attorney. but haven't gotten a response. laura. >> unbelievable. omar jimenez, thank you. we'll be right back. no, he's not in his room. ♪ dad, why didn't you answer your phone? your mother loved this park. ♪

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w. kamau bell is back with an all-new episode of "united shades of america." in this week's season finale, kamau travels to dallas to learn more about the experiences of the black transgender community. here's a preview. >> i began my transition in '64. i went to college, and i came out with a nursing lvn license. so i was able to -- >> get that money. >> yeah. well, you know, you had to do something to pay for these neiman marcus dresses. so i worked as a nurse. >> so at the hospital you worked at, you were -- >> at the hospital, i was sharon. >> okay. >> and undressing, going back home with my family. >> that's got to be stressful. >> it was. it was very stressful. i thought it was really, really

time for me to be me. >> yeah. >> be sure to tune in. the all interview new season finale of "united shades of america" with w. kamau bel airs sunday in 10:00 p.m. one in five children in the u.s. has a learning difference. children who face these challenges are more likely to be suspended, drop out, or end up in the juvenile justice system. this cnn hero understands all of this because he's lived it. david flink was diagnosed with adhd and dyslexia at age 11 and struggled throughout school. now as an adult, he's working to make sure that children like him don't fall through the cracks of the education system. his nonprofit, eye to eye, pairs college or high school students with learning differences with middle schoolers who have similar differences, unleashing confident, successful learners in the process. >> eye to eye provides a safe

space that's constructed around what's right with kids so they can talk about their experiences. >> do you get scared during tests or no? >> i have anxiety. >> i shake a lot. >> yeah, that happens to me sometimes. >> people's hearts sing when they're seen. >> really cool. i like how you use the duct tape as a handle. >> my moment that i am wishing for is when the problem of stigmatizing kids because they learn differently goes away. i want them to know that their brains are beautiful. i want them feeling like they know how to ask for what they need and they can do it. and that's what we give them. >> all right, daniel! >> to learn david's whole story and see the magic that happens when children are seen and understood, go to cnnheroes.com. and while you're there, nominate whomever you think should be a cnn hero. thanks for watching. our coverage continues with an

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welcome to this ac 360 special, barack obama on fatherhood, leadership and legacy. after leaving the white house, president obama mostly stayed out of politics although last year he campaigned for joe biden. mr. obama has continued his work with a program he launched while he was in the white house called my brother's keeper. it's now part of the obama foundation. its mission is to provide support for what it calls pathways of opportunity to young men of color. it's a deeply personal mission for president obama, who grew up hardly knowing his own father and who by his own account didn't find his way until his late teens. he writes about that as well